Officials are probing how a 51-year-old highway bridge came to collapse in the Italian port city of Genoa yesterday, killing at least 26 people and injuring 16 others as it sent dozens of vehicles tumbling into a heap of concrete and twisted steel.

Aussie plant seeds to be frozen in time

Bringing the dead back to life might not be as far-fetched as you think.

A group of Australian scientists has developed a new technique to store the seeds of rainforest plants facing extinction for hundreds of years.

Thanks to a $600,000 donation from the UK-based Arcadia Fund, the Australian Rainforest Seed Project will allow local scientists to protect plant cells and tissue by storing samples in liquid nitrogen "forever".

"This is absolutely at the cutting-edge," NSW Environment Minister Robyn Parker told reporters at Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens on Thursday.

"We've got 25,000 different species in NSW and some of those are unable to be kept because of the moisture content.

"This (program) is using new scientific methods, using cryogenic methods, to make sure we can preserve them because they're under threat.